Results from Sask. election finalized, government soon back to work

The results of last Monday’s election are now final, and the government is that much closer to getting back to work.

The final results include approximately 7,000 ballots from absentee voters, hospitals, and remand centres that weren’t included in the preliminary results. No seats have changed hands as a result – the Sask. Party still holds 51 seats to the NDP’s 10.

A total of 434,244 ballots were cast in the election. That is about 30,000 more than were cast in the 2011 provincial election, but is 20,000 fewer than were cast in 2007 when there were also 150,000 fewer registered voters.

The voter turnout was 57.8 per cent of registered voters, one of the lowest in decades.

Dr. Michael Boda, Chief Electoral Officer of Saskatchewan, explained that one of the reasons the turnout is so low this year is the number of registered voters was much higher, 150,000 higher than in 2011.

“Simply put, the denominator in the calculation of voter turnout is significantly larger because we have gotten much better at registering voters,” he wrote in a news release the day after the election.

The final results aren’t the official results, however, these numbers become official at the Returning of the Writs on Apr. 27. Afterwards the MLAs can be sworn in and get to work.